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Why Domino's Pizza, Inc. Stock Popped Today

Is Domino's jump meaningful? Or just another movement?

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Domino's Pizza(NYSE:DPZ) were up 10.2% as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday after the pizza chain reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.

So what: Quarterly revenue rose 10.6% year over year to $502 million, which translated to 14% growth in net income to $46.3 million, or $0.81 per diluted share -- the latter of which was helped by Domino's repurchase of 290,877 shares of common stock for $29.5 million during the quarter. Analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $0.80 per share on sales of $489.2 million.

Now what: As Domino's CEO J. Patrick Doyle put it simply, "We had an outstanding start to 2015. Strong global sales, store growth and technology advancements all demonstrated the fundamental strength of the Domino's brand."

Perhaps most notably, keep in mind Domino's top-line growth was helped by 110 net store additions in the first quarter, as well as a 14.5% increase in domestic same-store sales and a 7.8% jump in international same-store sales (excluding foreign exchange). That continues Domino's streak of stateside dominance, and marks its 85th consecutive quarter of international same-store sales growth.

All things considered, this was another solid performance from Domino's. And even with shares trading at a seemingly lofty 38 times trailing-12-month earnings and 28 times next year's expectations, I think that's a reasonable premium to pay for a high-quality business that continues to deliver impressive results quarter after quarter, year after year. In the end, I see no reason Domino's stock can't continue to reward patient shareholders from here.

Author

As a technology and consumer goods specialist for the Fool, Steve looks for responsible businesses that positively shape our lives. Then he invests accordingly. Enjoy his work? Connect with him on Twitter & Facebook so you don't miss a thing.